Bishop - St. Tim’s part of global reformation

8-2-2008

In a historic move, the Anglican Church has adopted the “Jerusalem Declaration,” with 14 tenets of orthodoxy and biblical standards as a way of distancing itself from the liberal teachings and gospels of the Episcopal Church, particularly in America.
The Jerusalem Declaration will cut off the estimated 1.5 to 2 million American Episcopalians from the world’s Anglican Communion, estimated at 50 million and growing. The split will also help create a new American Anglican Communion exemplifying their split from the American Episcopal Church.
St. Timothy’s Church in Bishop changed from Episcopalian to Anglican 18 months ago with vicar Tony Faint being officially recognized as the Anglican priest in June.
“This new alignment provides for a separate Anglican province in the U.S., part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, distinctly apart from the liberal teachings of the Episcopal Church,” he said. “We are so pleased and excited to be a small part of this wonderful fellowship of believing Christians.”
On July 10, Bishop Jerry Lamb of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, which oversees Inyo County, sent letters to his deacons and priests asking them whether they will uphold their ordination vows, giving the clergy until Tuesday, Aug. 5 to respond.
The movement in the church was prompted by what has been labeled increasingly liberal theology in the Episcopal church along with actions that seem at odds with Anglican teachings. In 2003, the American Episcopal Church consecrated a gay man as bishop, some churches allowed gay marriages in their congregational halls and Episcopal priests and bishops have made claims that Jesus is a woman and that Jesus and the Bible are one way, but not the only way to salvation.

Faint said Thursday his congregation was wholly supportive of the move as were other pastors and priests in Bishop, who congratulated him for taking such a bold stand.

The sign for St. Timothy’s read “Episcopal Church” just 18 months ago, but St. Timothy’s and its vicar, Tony Faint, are joining a growing, worldwide movement of orthodox Anglicanism, distancing itself from the highly publicized, liberal American Episcopal Diocese. Photo by Mike Bodine

In explaining St. Timothy’s and the Anglican Communion’s decision in general to split from the Episcopal Church, Faint said, “Basically since the 1960s the Episcopal Church has become more and more liberal in its actions and theology … their theology is suspect.” The Episcopal Church has adopted a set of secular morals and a theology of pluralism that Jesus is one way to God, but not the only way.
“The whole (Episcopal) diocese has changed,” Faint said, calling the new attitude neo-liberalism. “If a man and a man want to get married so everybody feels good … is not what it says in the Bible.
“You must believe in the Bible if you’re a Christian,” Faint continued, “(but) the Episcopal Church is bowing to public opinion. They’re making church comfortable. Jesus never said religion was comfortable – living the life is not easy but rewarding.” Faint was reiterating the fifth tenet of the Declaration, which states, “gladly proclaim … Jesus Christ, humanity’s only Saviour from sin, judgement and hell.”
“Most of the world has rebelled against the American Episcopal Church,” Faint said of the church’s liberal views. This split means, “most of the Anglican Communion will not break bread with the American Episcopal Church.”
The Jerusalem Declaration was accepted at the Global Anglican Future Conference, or GAFCON, held June 22-29, in the Holy Lands – Palestine, Israel and Galilee.
GAFCON emerged in response to a “crisis in the Anglican Communion” from three issues, according to the GAFCON.org. First was the “acceptance and promotion … of a different gospel” within the Communion. Second was the confusion within the dioceses of the “Global South.” And last is the Communion’s failure to “exercise discipline in the face of overt heterodoxy.”
GAFCON’s position is that it does not believe it is the only true interpreters of scripture, but that it is “holding true to the faith” as it was originally received and now “being undermined by those teaching a false gospel.”
The exodus from the Episcopal Church by the adoption of the Jerusalem Declaration is not solely the result of homosexuals being accepted as bishops in the Episcopal Church, Faint explained. Homosexuals are as welcome at St. Timothy’s as anyone, Faint said, but a homosexual marriage would not be tolerated.
“We acknowledge God’s creation of human kind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage (as) between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family,” reads the eighth tenet of the Declaration.
Anglican Archbishop Orombi from Uganda states on the Web site that the consecration of a gay man as bishop to the Episcopal Church in 2003 “has caused a huge tear in the fabric of the worldwide Anglican Communion.”
As stated in the Jerusalem Declaration, the 14 tenets are a way to “promote and protect the biblical gospels.” The Declaration lays out the fundamental beliefs for this new movement. Some of the statements included in the tenets are not new, but stress traditional Anglican views, noting that “the Holy Scriptures … contain all things necessary to salvation,” and that the classic Anglican authority of clerical orders will be upheld. The declaration also contains tenets on modern issues such as homosexuality and calls for “a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.” It also addresses global issues, such as “the God-given diversity among us,” stating, “We pledge to seek the mind of Christ on issues that divide us.” Finally, the Declaration states, “We reject the authority of those churches and leaders who have denied the orthodox faith in word or deed.”
When asked how a lay person can now tell the difference between an Anglican and Episcopal church, Faint replied, “At the Anglican Church we will be preaching the Bible from the pulpit.”